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Parks for the Planet Forum shares ideas on how cities can combat the effects of climate change, both proactively and retrospectively
The design and use of parks and public green spaces to increase cities’ resilience to climate change was the focus of conversation in the Parks for Planet Forum program, The Way We Live: Parks, People, and Public Spaces – Climate Resilience.
Simply creating green spaces, or planting vegetation without knowledge of how it can benefit an urban area will not contribute towards establishing climate resilience.
Those in urban planning and decision-making positions must comprehend how the varying characteristics of different species of trees and plants can help to combat negative climate impacts such as urban heat island effect, flooding and air pollution.
To help inform those taking such decisions, the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) is making crucial information and knowledge accessible to decision makers through its Green City initiative, which focuses on how success can be achieved when bringing green space into cities.
For meaningful and impactful use of plants and trees in cities in the fight against climate change, the specific problems needing to be solved must first be analyzed before the appropriate horticultural measures can be implemented.
One city with a full strategy in effect is Asunción, the capital of Paraguay.
Asunción Green City is a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) project aimed at improving the lives of the metropolitan area’s residents, in part through the integration of green infrastructure.
A series of “green corridors” will connect the city’s 13,000 hectares of green areas, protecting various elements of biodiversity in the city, while managing existing urban trees in collaboration with municipalities.
By creating “urban forests” and using specific and ecosystem-appropriate plant and tree species, the city is helping to restore habitats and protect wetlands.
Asunción is one of ten cities working directly with green infrastructure and biodiversity as part of the UNDP initiative, providing nature-based solutions to making cities more climate resilient.
How can cities future-proof themselves to be climate resilient when they are starting from scratch? This is the challenge facing authorities in Indonesia, as the government undertakes its ambitious New Capital City project.
The $32 billion undertaking, which was discussed during the Parks for the Planet Forum, will see the country’s capital relocated from Jakarta to the middle of forest on the island of Borneo, thus presenting many questions around how to preserve nature in the 256,000 hectare area the new capital will occupy.
Current plans incorporate a three-city ecosystem, with six economic clusters, three of which will focus on a sustainable agriculture industry, eco-tourism and low carbon energy in a bid to counter the climate impacts of the new conurbation.
The webinar also highlighted some examples of cities that are actively working to improve their resilience to climate change.
Working with several municipalities, the consultancy firm Metabolic is redesigning large scale urban systems in the Netherlands to be more sustainable, while Edinburgh Living Landscape is a partnership project led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the city council and other organizations and establishments to “improve the ecosystem health of Edinburgh for the benefit of local people and wildlife.”
Minneapolis, MN, USA, a city built around a park system and trail networks, was also highlighted as an example of a major urbanization that has found ways to connect green spaces, and the work of Urban Natural Assets for Africa in Lilongwe, Malawi is engaging communities to devise strategies for the evolving challenges of informal settlements being built along the city’s rivers.
Cape Town, South Africa, was another case put forward of a major city building out its climate policy, with an adaptive approach to planning processes for the future of the city’s resilience strategy coming as part of a reaction to the recent water crisis.
This webinar on Climate Resilience was part of Salzburg Global Seminar’s Parks for the Planet Forum’s 2021 program, The Way We Live: Parks, People and Public Spaces. The program is in partnership with AIPH, Diplomatic Courier, The Future City podcast, ICLEI, ICUN, #NatureForAll and World Urban Parks. For more information, please visit: https://www.salzburgglobal.org/multi-year-series/parks